Well, it's alive! After many months, dozens of hours in the garage, my car is running again. Tremendously appreciative of the member here TDISYNCRO, who helped me with the valve train setup. He put in a ton of effort to help me verify my setup would work. I don't think I would have attempted to use the cams I have without the testing and verification he helped me with.
Can't believe how buttery smooth the engine runs without bent valves! 250 miles on so far. EGT's are low! On a long pull, it barely cracks 600°C. Little smokey if I am hard on the accelerator below 2,000 rpm but once the turbo lights up, down to a light haze.
https://youtu.be/1Ceyntb6vOQ
Still a few bugs to work out. For some reason, after sitting overnight it takes a few cranks to fire up. Once it's warmed up, fires up perfect. Going to check rail pressure on first crank up this morning to verify that I have rail pressure right away. If not, may try putting the auxiliary pump back in.
Hopefully can get it sorted and start cranking up rail pressure. Look forward to sharing a dyno sheet soon.
Respectfully,
Travis